In "The Apocalypse Banquet", horror creeps into the everyday: eight nightmarish tales in which psychosis becomes increasingly symbolic and pervasive. However, Hideshi Hino does not limit himself to shocking the reader. Each story starkly highlights man's cruelty towards those who are "different". Tales of mutation in which gruesome metamorphosis becomes an act of purification from a society that rejects any and all "abnormality."